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Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Interview with mystery author Edita A. Petrick

Mystery author Edita
A. Petrick joins me today to talk about her thriller-suspense series, the
Peacetaker. The premise (ancient myth of the Peacetaker) is established in Book
1.

Book 1 – Ribbons of
Death is a suspense thriller;

Book 2 – The
Harmony Scroll is action-adventure thriller;

Book 3 – The
Byzantine Connection is a thriller;

Book 4 – Arachne’s
Challenge is once again more of adventure-techno-thriller

Book 5 - Doomsday Hand is an adventure-suspense thriller

Bio:

I have been writing all my life and other than those
couple of family members who occasionally look over my shoulder, no one knows
I’m an author of 15+ books. Or that these are listed on Amazon.com, B&N,
Kobo, iApple and a dozen other distribution outlets. One of my books is also
being translated into Cantonese and Mandarin. These last few years, I’ve kept
my ‘writing’ life and my other self totally separate because it is safer that
way. I can be ‘me’ when I’m out there in the world, working, socializing, etc.

Please tell us about your current
release.

Doomsday
Hand – Book 5 of the Peacetaker Series has been on pre-order
these last few weeks. Like the others in the series, it centers on a little
known ancient charming myth that has a potential to doom the world. I’ve had
great response from my readers to the series itself, and hoping this book will
appeal to my readership as well. However, like all my books, the story is about
people, their interactions, their problems and threats; the myths and legends
merely serve as a vehicle for human stories that are in my books.

What inspired you to write this book?

I wanted to craft a story where the male character,
Carter, will be in mortal danger for a change. At the same time, I like to weave
adventure through my stories and that involves travel and foreign locales.

Excerpt from Doomsday Hand:

The man took out something from the
inner pocket of his coat and flipped it open then held it out to him, across
the glass strip.

“I’m Inspector Dhaloub, Scotland
Yard.”

“Well, that’s certainly an honor and
I can’t even reciprocate because you already know my name and probably
everything else there is to know about me,” he said, wondering whether the French
Sûreté was not far behind. Years ago, when he first met Greg in Cairo, the man
had already acquired a crowd of followers, the humorless kind.

“Not quite everything,” the
Inspector said. “May I see some form of identification, please—a passport,
perhaps?”

Carter smiled, hoping the policeman
saw nothing else but amity. “I don’t have it on me, inspector,” he said.

“Then perhaps a driver’s license?”

“I took the subway…tube, as you say
here.”

“Do you have any form of
identification, Mr. Tanner?”

He did, but not as Tanner. Well,
there was no way to get out of the trap. If he insisted that he had no
identification whatsoever, he’d quickly find himself at the New Scotland Yard,
being fingerprinted because these days the British police were utterly humorless
when it came to foreigners who couldn’t vouch for their identity with some form
of official picture-bearing card. The King’s College issued a formal coded ID
security card for all members of Stella’s family to assure them entry into the
administrative building if they wished to visit their wife and mother. The card
was three months old, certainly very recent, and would make any British
policeman happy…except it was for Timothy J. Carter, resident of 21 Baxter
Walk, Soho. Stella’s full name and academic title featured in brackets
underneath his.

“Mr. Tanner, may I see some form of
identification?” the inspector asked, his voice still even but much colder.

Carter nodded, and then fished out
the college ID from the breast pocket in his windbreaker, handing it to the
inspector who took it and stared at it for a long time.

“Welcome to London, Mr. Carter.
Please give my best regards to Dr. Hunter. I have read quite a few of her
academic papers, as well as her book with great interest. You could say that
I’m a fan. Now, what is your relationship with Mr. Gregory Semple?”

In his forty-seven years of life,
quite a few of them spent avoiding people like this policeman, he’d learned one
thing that served man best when dealing with the law: Make your answers brief
and don’t volunteer what they don’t have to know.

“We’re friends,” he said, smiling
just right not to read anything into it.

“Good friends?”

“Good enough to spend some time
together, having lunch.”

“However, during your lunch he would
no doubt address you—his good friend—as Ross Tanner. Interesting. When did you
first meet Mr. Semple?”

“About ten, eleven years ago.”

“Where, if I may ask?”

“Africa.”

“An interesting continent. It’s the
cradle of life and yet still full of mysteries.”

He wondered what the Inspector was
after, other than to draw from him the ‘mystery’ he already knew, so it would
become a confession.

“The world is full of mysteries,
Inspector. Africa’s just one of the global continents that has what England
obviously doesn’t.”

What exciting story are you working on
next?

Three new books, actually. Book 6 of the Peacetaker
series – Seals of Eternity. Book 2 of
the Bree-Ann Carver Suspense Blog series, and Rimworld Legends, Book 2 of my
sci-fi space-opera, Lords of the Winter Stars series. I’m one of those writers
who doesn’t make notes or outlines or plot-sketches of any kind. I live with
the story in my head. Eventually, times comes to start writing it.

Mostly it works for me…except when it doesn’t and I get
‘stuck’ in the story. It’s why I need to work on at least 3 books at any given
time.

When did you first consider yourself a
writer?

I don’t know about other authors, but I never consciously
thought or considered myself as a writer. I write because I love it. It relaxes
me. It gives me a sense of purpose. I like to ‘create’ characters through
observation of people around me.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's
your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find
time to write?

I WORK full time. I write whenever I’m not exhausted by
living, working and taking care of family. However, since I work for a school
board, I have summers off so that’s my ‘writing’ time – whether I feel like it
or not. Any free time – holidays, vacations and such, I ‘push’ myself to work
on something ‘in the drawer.’

What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?

I talk to my characters as I write (it let’s me feel the
ideas and dialogue) and basically ‘talk’ my way through the story. It works
really well for me when I write ‘arguments and controversies.’ I get to
be…everyone.

As a child, what did you want to be when
you grew up?

Archeologist. And I went into it at university but then
my father persevered and ‘yanked’ me out of the ‘empty’ education and presto, I
was enrolled in engineering. Practical, puts bread on the table. Has future. I
spent 25 years working as an engineer, in mostly male-dominated field, and
honestly, I don’t think it ‘built character’ or toughened me. I was already
tough when I went into it and struggling at every turn of the career…would not
be my first choice again, let’s just say that.

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About Me

I'm a NH native and love New England. I love writing about the region, exploring it on foot, on my bicycle, and in my car. There are so many small communities and fun and interesting people in this area, that I could be here a lifetime and not do all it is I want to do. :)

I'm a moderator at The Writer's Chatroom that hosts live chats with guest authors on Sunday nights 7-9PM EST. Join the e-mail list to get notifications of upcoming guests, then stop in and join the conversation!